Other contenders also have international exposure. Donald Kohn, 70, served the Fed for four decades, including as vice chairman from 2006 to 2010, and now is a member of the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee. Roger Ferguson, 61, negotiated the implementation of new international capital standards for banks as vice chairman from 1999 to 2006 and led the central bank’s response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when Greenspan and other colleagues were stranded outside Washington. He is now chief executive officer of TIAA-CREF.

The need to think globally doesn’t mean the Fed will serve as a central bank for the world under the new chairman, providing monetary support at times of overseas strain regardless of whether that’s best for the U.S.

Federal Open Market Committee members, including Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart, left no doubt where they stand after developing-nation asset markets and currencies slid this summer when the Fed signaled it may begin tapering its $85 billion program of monthly asset purchases. The fallout prompted calls from the International Monetary Fund, Mexico, China and other emerging economies for the Fed to communicate better or even coordinate more when it does begin to withdraw.

U.S. Mandate

“There are people who imagine or have this idea that somehow the FOMC should be making kind of global monetary policy,” Lockhart told Bloomberg Television on Aug. 23. “You have to remember that we are a legal creature of Congress and that we only have a mandate to concern ourselves with the interest of the United States.”

The concern abroad is that when the U.S. does begin tapering and then tightening monetary policy, capital will flee developing countries, forcing up local borrowing costs. Policy makers from India, Indonesia and Brazil were among those who raised interest rates or introduced currency-intervention programs to temper the impact on their markets of speculation the Fed was poised to trim aid.

The Fed’s influence was evident on Sept. 18, when its surprise decision not to pare its stimulus lifted the MSCI Emerging Markets Index to the highest since May. A group of the 20 most traded emerging-market currencies tumbled to the lowest since 2009 this month before rebounding.

Emerging-Market Slowdown

Having lifted the world out of recession in 2009, key developing countries have slowed or faced domestic challenges. Chinese leaders are acting to defend their 7.5 percent growth target after two straight quarters of weakening activity. India is suffering an outbreak of inflation even amid the softest expansion since 2009, while Brazil is wrestling with price pressures and a slide in the real. IMF forecasts show the gap between developed- and emerging-market growth rates this year will remain close to the narrowest in a decade, at 3.8 percentage points.

At the margin, Yellen will be viewed by investors as positive for emerging-market assets because of her focus on the benefits of quantitative easing and keeping interest rates low for long and suppressing volatility, said Andrew Balls, head of European portfolio management at Pacific Investment Management Co. in London.